From our Sunday service on April 19, 2026, Proverbs 22:17-23:9. This is part 1 of our Sayings of the Wise series. Watch the full message: The Sayings of the Wise #1 on YouTube.
After some heavier study, we are turning to something simpler for a few weeks: the book of Proverbs. Proverbs is a hard book to series through, because so much of it comes in short, single-verse sayings. So we are taking one section of it, called the sayings of the wise.
Proverbs is generally split into about seven sections. It opens with a short preamble, then the lessons of wisdom in which wisdom is personified as a woman who comes to teach. The third section is the large collection of Solomon’s proverbs, each verse often its own thought, which is why that part is so hard to preach straight through. We are in the fourth section, the sayings of the wise, from Proverbs 22:17 through chapter 24. After that come more of Solomon’s proverbs compiled in the days of Hezekiah, the sayings of Agur, and the close of the book in chapter 31. In this series we are covering just this one section.
Proverbs is not simply a book Solomon wrote by himself, though we often memorize it that way. He wrote most of it, and he began the collection, but the book itself tells us that later kings continued the work. The sayings of the wise are sayings Solomon gathered from various people, including sources beyond Israel, because he believed they would help the people of God live well. One of those sources that has been recovered is the Instruction of Amenemope, an Egyptian work of wisdom from which Solomon took a few sayings and composed them into Scripture. That should not frighten us. The Bible sometimes uses sources written by people who were not believers. Paul quotes Greek writers when he is calling people to Christ. The Old Testament itself cites other records, and even uses words from pagans, because the Holy Spirit can take what is true and set it in Scripture. Wisdom is wisdom, no matter who said it first. Even those without the law can, by nature, do things contained in the law, because God has written His work on the human heart. The unsaved still bear the image of God and have a conscience that can recognize wise living from foolish living.
Solomon wanted to leave a lasting legacy of wisdom. He had made grave mistakes in his own life, and he did not want God’s people to repeat them. So he gathered counsel from many places and set down thirty sayings that he believed every believer should apply, and that the book itself intends us to memorize, so that when someone comes to us in need we can give them the truth that fits. You may start with one. The point is to put them in your heart. As we look at these sayings, God wants His people to know that He wants them to live wisely in all areas of life.
Saying 1: Listen to the Wise
The first saying is the prologue to the rest. It even starts in the middle of a chapter, which is simply how the text has come down to us:
Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge. For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips. That thy trust may be in the LORD, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee. Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge, That I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth; that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee?
Proverbs 22:17–21
These are “the words of the wise,” utterances spoken for our help. They are written so that we might answer the words of truth to them that send unto us. In other words, they are meant to be kept close enough that when someone comes asking for counsel, we can give them what God has already said about how the world works. That trust in the Lord is not separate from understanding cause and effect. If we live as God teaches, we are blessed. If we live as God says is wrong, we destroy ourselves by our own sin.
So we are told to bow down the ear, hear, and apply the heart. Listening to wise words is beneficial. If we keep them within us, they will be fitted in our lips, because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. When the heart is full of wisdom, wisdom is ready on the tongue. Saying number one is this: pay attention to the sayings of the wise, because if you put them in your heart, they will flow out of your lips.
Saying 2: Do Not Oppress the Poor
The next saying is a warning with a severe end:
Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate: For the LORD will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them.
Proverbs 22:22–23
“The afflicted in the gate” points to the courthouse of that day. The elders sat at the city gate to hear cases, as when Boaz went to the gate to settle the matter of redemption in Ruth. Do not rob the poor, and do not oppress the afflicted in court. The word “rob” means to strip away, like peeling something down. The poor already have little. Stop peeling away from people who do not have much to give.
If you take what little they have, the Lord will plead their cause. You may win in a lower court, but there is a Judge of all the earth, and He will take up the case the lower courts would not. He will spoil the soul of those that spoiled them. That is a very strong condemnation. Those who oppress the poor in order to make themselves richer are in danger of having their souls taken by God. A wise person will not afflict the poor, because when you oppress the poor, God will come after you.
Saying 3: Avoid the Angry Man
We are also told to be careful whom we walk with:
Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.
Proverbs 22:24–25
“Friendship” here carries the idea of sharing the same pasture, being in the same field with someone. “Go” means to enter in or travel with. Do not make a close path with a man who is angry or furious, quick to flare up. His “ways” are a well-traveled road, ruts worn in by going over the same ground again and again. If you walk with him, you will get stuck in those same ruts, and it will become hard to keep a calm spirit when you are always around someone who cannot control himself. Iron sharpens iron, and a dull blade will dull another blade. An angry companion becomes a snare to your soul. A wise person will avoid relationships with those who are angry.
Saying 4: Avoid Debt You Cannot Pay
The next saying is just as practical:
Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts. If thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee?
Proverbs 22:26–27
To strike hands is to shake hands on a deal, and to be surety is to put something down as security for a loan. If you do not have the money to pay, why should your bed be taken from under you? It is unwise to pledge what you cannot afford, even something as necessary as the place you sleep, hoping a loan will fix a tight life. If you are already struggling to get by, borrowing at interest is not going to save you.
A loan can have a rightful use, but the wise way is to take one only when you already have what you need to pay it. A credit card is a loan every time you use it, and the same rule applies: use it only when you can pay it off. “The borrower is servant to the lender.” Do not build a life of debt if you can avoid it. Foolishness here will shake a person’s peace, and it is not God who makes a fool suffer; it is the fool. A wise person will avoid taking on a loan unless he already has the money to pay for it.
Saying 5: Remove Not the Ancient Landmark
This saying is not a metaphor about family traditions, even though it is often preached that way. It is about actual property lines:
Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.
Proverbs 22:28
In ancient times territory was marked by piles of stones set when the land was divided, and those markers were meant to stand for generations. They were easier to move than a tree. There was no surveyor’s map to settle the line, so a man could be tempted to shift the stones a little each year, steal a few more feet of his neighbor’s field, and assume no one would ever prove it. “Remove not the ancient landmark” means do not move the boundary your fathers set. It is easy to sin when no one is going to catch you. Wisdom is knowing to do right even when nobody is looking. A wise person will respect what is rightly established, and will have integrity even when it is easy to get away with doing wrong.
Saying 6: Diligent in His Business
The next saying turns to the quality of our work:
Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.
Proverbs 22:29
Have you ever seen someone so skilled at an occupation that you were simply impressed? That person does not struggle to stay busy, and he does not end up working only for unknown men. “Mean men” here are ordinary, unknown people. A person who is truly diligent in his work is in demand. He has to turn down labor in order to finish what he has, and he stands before important people because the quality of his skill requires it.
It does not really matter what the job is if you will be the best you can be at it. A fool complains that he deserves a better place. A wise person plants his feet and says, I am going to do my best where I am. When you do that, you are rewarded, and you also make a good testimony. People may ask why you take the work so seriously, and you can say that you serve a God who is worthy of the best you have, and that what you do is a sacrifice to Him. A wise person will take whatever career he is in and excel in it.
Saying 7: Beware the Ruler’s Dainties
The next saying can sound like a warning against overeating, but that is not really what it is about. It is about business, power, and strings attached:
When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee: And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite. Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat.
Proverbs 23:1–3
When you sit to eat with a ruler, you are sitting with someone who has power, wealth, or a deal to make. Everything a person like that sets before you is intentional. What looks like a gift is often a price. In that day a luxurious meal was a way to get a yes, just as people still use favors, comforts, and impressive offers to get what they want from you. If you are a person given to appetite, hold yourself back. Do not take the bait. Those dainties are deceitful meat. The only questions that should decide a matter are whether it honors God and whether it is truly for your good. A wise person will see through an attempt to impress him when the other person is looking for a favor in return. Do not lose control of yourself around wealth or influence, and do not be bought by your desires.
Saying 8: Labour Not to Be Rich
We are also told not to exhaust ourselves in the chase for wealth:
Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom. Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
Proverbs 23:4–5
“Labour” here means work to the point of exhaustion, the kind of labor that leaves a person ready to collapse. Do not work yourself to that point in order to become rich, and cease from your own wisdom. Your instinct may say that a little more work, a little more push, will bring the big break. But grinding yourself down does not guarantee success. Why would you set your eyes on something that is not fixed? Riches grow wings and fly away. The market moves. Jobs come and go. You can sacrifice family and every other relationship, and then, just as you think you are about to take hold of it, something outside your control can take it away. Set your eyes on God, who does not change, not on a standard that is always moving. A wise person will keep work in its proper place, keep a right balance, and pursue God rather than pouring his whole life into riches.
Saying 9: The Man with an Evil Eye
The next saying is close to the last one, but the danger is more personal:
Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats: For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee. The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.
Proverbs 23:6–8
An evil eye is an eye for evil, a person who is always looking to take advantage of others. He may be successful. He may have the means to make you wealthy. He may set savory, impressive meals in front of you. If you know he is evil, do not associate with him in hope of a reward. “Thinketh” here means to calculate economic value. He is not seeing you as a partner. He is weighing what you are worth to him, and he will give you only the bare minimum he needs in order to use you, and then throw you away. When that happens, the morsel you have eaten you will vomit up, and the sweet words you spent on him will be wasted. The wise will not work with the evil, and if you join yourself to such a man, the wise will not want to work with you either. A wise person will avoid working alongside people he knows are up to no good. That kind of association can destroy both your finances and your testimony.
Saying 10: Speak Not in the Ears of a Fool
The last of these ten sayings is simple, and we all understand it:
Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
Proverbs 23:9
Do not waste your time trying to teach someone who does not want to learn. There are people so settled in foolishness that they will not accept even the basic point you are making, and going back to them again and again does little good. They may have to learn the hard way before they can receive wisdom. Some will hear a warning about debt and tell you they can always take another card, or refuse to pay, or start over. “Despise” means to think little of, to treat as unimportant. For every person who will not listen, there is someone else who is ready to receive help. A wise person will know where he can help the most, and will focus on those who are ready to receive it.
A pattern is already clear. Wisdom is not an abstract idea. It is practical, and it reaches into every part of life: how we listen, whom we associate with, how we handle money, how we work, and how we answer the influences around us. Living wisely is not head knowledge. It is a different way of life. We have only begun this collection, and wisdom will keep building on itself, challenging us, refining us, and equipping us. God wants His people to live wisely in all areas of life. Will you take these sayings, put them to work, and choose to live wisely today?
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